The present invention relates generally to telephone call routing systems and internet server systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method that digitally associates telephony and internet content, allowing calls to be routed among selected calling and receiving parties, enabling the parties to communicate over the telephone network while simultaneously accessing concurrent internet content.
Anyone who has interacted with a complex automated telephone attendant system, voicemail system, or automated help desk system knows well the shortcomings of current technology. The user may be prompted for certain information that is used to route the user's call to the proper telephone extension or help desk agent. For example, a user may be prompted to input his or her account number into an automated banking system, in order to verify that the user has an account and to then route the user's call to the proper department. Unfortunately, current systems do not have a mechanism to retain the user-entered data (e.g., account number) after the call is transferred. Thus the officer or help desk agent receiving the routed call must again ask the user to repeat the previously entered information. Depending on the complexity of the sequence of routing operations, the user may be asked to enter his or her account number several times during the process.
Now that the internet is readily available to most people, many elect to bypass the conventional telephone-based help desk system by seeking assistance via web-based internet sources. Recognizing that many users will visit a company web site first, before placing a telephone call to receive personal assistance, many companies have constructed their web sites to provide answers to the most commonly sought questions. Banking systems, for example, allow the user to enter his or her account number along with a password and then view the current state of the user's account. While internet-based resources do eliminate some of the problems associated with telephone-based, voice-prompted systems, there are still times when a user simply needs to talk to a real person.
Currently, after the user has researched his or her question through the information available on the company's web site, the user may desire to call a help desk or customer service department to obtain further information from a human agent. Because there is no link between web page and telephone call, the agent has no way of knowing what information the user has already obtained via the internet, nor does the agent know what information the user has provided via the internet when answering the user's call. Thus the agent must ask the caller to repeat pertinent information, including what web page the user is viewing or has viewed, in order to handle the user's request. If the agent needs to refer the caller to another agent or another department, chances are good that the caller will need to repeat the same information again, as conventional systems do not capture and forward the state of the transaction carried out thus far.
The present invention addresses these problems through a system that associates internet content data and telephony data so that information provided by a user through a web site will automatically be associated with the user's telephone call. Even if the call is routed to a succession of different agents, all information previously gathered through the internet or through a telephone-based interactive response system will be maintained. The system is quite flexible. It even allows the help desk agent or attendant to provide internet information back to the caller. Thus the agent can cause the user's browser to display a different web page or different media content without requiring the user to take any overt action. If the appropriate agent is not available to handle a user's call when the user first requests it, the system has a callback scheduling module that will initiate a telephone call to the user when an agent is available and the system will automatically place both user and agents' internet web screens in synchronism when the user answers the call. In this way the user and the agent can efficiently conduct business without the need to repeat information that was previously supplied.
Although the system is well-suited for centralized helpdesk environments, there is no restriction that all agents must be physically located in a given premises. Indeed, the agent can physically reside anywhere he or she has access to a telephone network and suitable internet connection. Moreover, while the presently preferred embodiment is designed to support voiced communication over a conventional telephone network, the invention can readily be extended to voiced communication and video conferencing information over a computer network using IP packets or the like.
The present invention provides a novel Web customer contact system based on distributed execution of service logic programs that can be dynamically altered based on changing business needs. The distributed and dynamic program modification makes the Web customer contact system scalable and customization to the most demanding business operation needs. For example, existing workflow based GUI programming tool, which only support centralized specification, down load and execution of routing rules for incoming calls in a contact center. The new system WCC system can allow user to specify a set of service logic program (SLP) can be dynamically attached to any distributed “addressable entities” in the WCC system. The addressable entities can be a user, an agent, an email box, a work group, IVR system, or a department web site. The addressable entities can be located anywhere that can be reached by internet address (an URL or other types of identities). The SLP associated with the addressable entities can be dynamically downloaded from the “home” location of the SLP. The SLP allows a business to define the way of handling customer's messages such as call, chat and email in a flexible and programmable way using an open specification interface such as, XML technology.
According to another aspect of the invention, the web-content aware automatic call transfer system comprises an automated call dispatch server that is adapted for coupling to a computer network. The server has an associated telephony interface that is adapted for coupling to a telephone network. This telephone network could be a conventional circuit-switched network or a packet-switched computer network. The automated call dispatch server has an associated call model data structure that represents communications between parties as call objects. The call objects are capable of associating both internet content data and telephony data. The automated call dispatch server has an associated routing manager that is adapted for routing calls between a first party and a second party, using the call objects. In this way, the server enables the first and second parties to communicate over the telephone network while simultaneously accessing concurrent internet content.
For a more complete understanding of the invention, its objects and advantages, refer to the following specification and to the accompanying drawings.